Patentable/Patents/US-12628146-B2
US-12628146-B2

Uplink cancellation indication for supplementary uplink carriers

PublishedMay 12, 2026
Assigneenot available in USPTO data we have
Inventorsnot available in USPTO data we have
Technical Abstract

Aspects are presented which enable a UE to determine a supplementary uplink (SUL) configuration for an uplink cancellation indication (ULCI) for cancelling uplink communications in SUL. The UE receives from a base station a first configuration associated with a first block of an ULCI and associated with at least one of a SUL carrier a non-supplementary uplink (NUL) carrier in a cell. The base station configures the UE with a second configuration associated with a second block of the ULCI and associated with a SUL carrier in the cell, and the UE determines the second configuration. The UE monitors the ULCI based on the first configuration and the second configuration.

Patent Claims

Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.

1

. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

2

. The apparatus of, wherein the first configuration and the second configuration are associated with a same size parameter indicating a number of bits associated with the first block and the second block.

3

. The apparatus of, wherein the first configuration includes a first indication of NUL time domain resources associated with the first block, and wherein the second configuration includes a second indication of SUL time domain resources associated with the second block.

4

. The apparatus of, wherein a NUL duration of the NUL time domain resources is a same duration as a SUL duration of the SUL time domain resources.

5

. The apparatus of, wherein the first configuration and the second configuration are associated with a same indication of time domain resources associated with the first block and the second block.

6

. The apparatus of, wherein the first configuration includes a NUL time domain granularity associated with the first block, and wherein the second configuration includes a SUL time domain granularity associated with the second block.

7

. The apparatus of, wherein the NUL time domain granularity is a same granularity as the SUL time domain granularity.

8

. The apparatus of, wherein the first configuration and the second configuration are associated with a same time domain granularity associated with the first block and the second block.

9

. A method of wireless communication of a user equipment (UE), comprising:

10

. The method of, wherein the first configuration and the second configuration are associated with a same size parameter indicating a number of bits associated with the first block and the second block.

11

. The method of, wherein the first configuration and the second configuration are associated with a same time domain granularity associated with the first block and the second block.

12

. The method of, wherein the first configuration and the second configuration are associated with a same indication of time domain resources associated with the first block and the second block.

13

. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code at a user equipment (UE), the code when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to:

14

. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of, wherein the first configuration and the second configuration are associated with a same size parameter indicating a number of bits associated with the first block and the second block.

Detailed Description

Complete technical specification and implementation details from the patent document.

This application is a Continuation of U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 18/163,218, entitled “UPLINK CANCELLATION INDICATION FOR SUPPLEMENTARY UPLINK CARRIERS” and filed Feb. 1, 2023, which is a Continuation of U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 17/111,389, entitled “METHODS TO CONFIGURE UPLINK CANCELLATION INDICATION FOR SUPPLEMENTARY UPLINK CARRIERS” and filed Dec. 3, 2020, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 11,601,940, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/943,768, entitled “METHODS TO CONFIGURE UPLINK CANCELLATION INDICATION FOR SUPPLEMENTARY UPLINK CARRIERS” and filed on Dec. 4, 2019, each of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to wireless communication systems between a user equipment (UE) and a base station (BS).

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with Internet of Things (IoT)), and other requirements. 5G NR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communications (mMTC), and ultra reliable low latency communications (URLLC). Some aspects of 5G NR may be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. There exists a need for further improvements in 5G NR technology. These improvements may also be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

After a base station schedules resources for a UE to use in transmission or reception, e.g., of enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) data, the base station may become aware of a more urgent, higher priority transmission from another UE. For example, the other transmission may be from a latency sensitive device utilizing ultra-reliable, low latency communication (URLLC). In such circumstances, the base station may reclaim the resources previously scheduled to the first, lower priority UE for use by the second, higher priority UE. In particular, if the previously scheduled resources are for a downlink transmission, the base station may send a downlink cancellation indication (DLCI) (or downlink preemption indication) in a DLCI occasion to the first UE cancelling at least a portion of the downlink transmission to that UE. Similarly, if the previously scheduled resources are for an uplink transmission, the base station may send an uplink cancellation indication (ULCI) (or uplink preemption indication) in an ULCI occasion to the first UE to cancel at least a portion of the uplink transmission from that UE. The base station may then allocate those reclaimed resources to the higher priority, latency sensitive UE.

Additionally, a UE may be configured with two uplink carriers in the same uplink serving cell, namely a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier and a non-supplementary uplink (NUL) carrier, and the base station may semi-statically or dynamically schedule uplink transmissions on either the NUL or SUL. When the base station sends ULCI to the UE to cancel a previously scheduled uplink transmission, the UE may determine whether to apply the ULCI to cancel uplink transmissions on NUL or SUL. For example, the base station may configure the UE to monitor separate blocks or fields in ULCI, where each block corresponds to either the SUL carrier and/or NUL carrier of a given cell where the uplink transmission to be punctured is carried. The portion of the uplink transmission to be canceled is based on various parameters (e.g., carrier, time domain resource granularity, symbols, etc.) configured for the UE.

Currently, a UE may receive a NUL configuration for ULCI in a serving cell, including a corresponding location of fields in the DCI for NUL (e.g., a NUL position parameter), a number of bits for applying the ULCI to NUL (e.g., a NUL size parameter), and an indication for time-frequency resources of the ULCI in NUL. The UE may also receive a corresponding location of fields in the DCI for SUL (e.g., a SUL position parameter) for ULCI in the serving cell. However, under the current configuration, the UE is not configured with a corresponding SUL CI payload size parameter and SUL time-frequency resources for ULCI. Thus, a UE monitoring for a block in ULCI corresponding to SUL may not be able to determine the subset of SUL resources in which to apply ULCI, in contrast to NUL. It would therefore be desirable to enable a UE to determine the subset of SUL resources for applying ULCI. Aspects presented herein enable the UE to determine a SUL configuration, including the SUL CI payload size parameter and time-frequency resources, to determine the subset of resources for cancelling uplink communications in SUL.

In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be a UE. The apparatus may receive from a base station, a first configuration associated with a first block of an uplink cancellation indication (ULCI), where the first configuration is associated with at least one of a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier or a non-supplementary uplink (NUL) carrier in a cell. The apparatus may determine a second configuration associated with a second block of the ULCI, where the second configuration is associated with the SUL carrier in the cell. The apparatus may monitor the ULCI based on the first configuration and the second configuration.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be a base station. The apparatus may transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a first configuration associated with a first block of an uplink cancellation indication (ULCI), where the first configuration is associated with at least one of a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier or a non-supplementary uplink (NUL) carrier in a cell. The apparatus configures the UE with a second configuration associated with a second block of the ULCI, where the second configuration is associated with the SUL carrier in the cell.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements”). These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on a chip (SoC), baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

Accordingly, in one or more example embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes computer storage media. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the aforementioned types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communications system and an access network. The wireless communications system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) includes base stations, UEs, an Evolved Packet Core (EPC), and another core network(e.g., a 5G Core (5GC)). The base stationsmay include macrocells (high power cellular base station) and/or small cells (low power cellular base station). The macrocells include base stations. The small cells include femtocells, picocells, and microcells.

The base stationsconfigured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPCthrough backhaul links(e.g., S1 interface). The base stationsconfigured for 5G NR (collectively referred to as Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interface with core networkthrough backhaul links. In addition to other functions, the base stationsmay perform one or more of the following functions: transfer of user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stationsmay communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPCor core network) with each other over backhaul links(e.g., X2 interface). The backhaul linksmay be wired or wireless.

The base stationsmay wirelessly communicate with the UEs. Each of the base stationsmay provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas. For example, the small cell′ may have a coverage area′ that overlaps the coverage areaof one or more macro base stations. A network that includes both small cell and macrocells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG). The communication linksbetween the base stationsand the UEsmay include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UEto a base stationand/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base stationto a UE. The communication linksmay use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links may be through one or more carriers. The base stations/UEsmay use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. A primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

Certain UEsmay communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communication link. The D2D communication linkmay use the DL/UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication linkmay use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communications systems, such as for example, FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

The wireless communications system may further include a Wi-Fi access point (AP)in communication with Wi-Fi stations (STAs)via communication linksin a 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum. When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the STAs/APmay perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.

The small cell′ may operate in a licensed and/or an unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell′ may employ NR and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as used by the Wi-Fi AP. The small cell′, employing NR in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to and/or increase capacity of the access network.

A base station, whether a small cell′ or a large cell (e.g., macro base station), may include an eNB, gNodeB (gNB), or another type of base station. Some base stations, such as gNBmay operate in a traditional sub 6 GHz spectrum, in millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies, and/or near mmW frequencies in communication with the UE. When the gNBoperates in mmW or near mmW frequencies, the gNBmay be referred to as an mmW base station. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in the band may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also referred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW/near mmW radio frequency band (e.g., 3 GHZ-300 GHz) has extremely high path loss and a short range. The mmW base stationmay utilize beamformingwith the UEto compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range.

The base stationmay transmit a beamformed signal to the UEin one or more transmit directions′. The UEmay receive the beamformed signal from the base stationin one or more receive directions″. The UEmay also transmit a beamformed signal to the base stationin one or more transmit directions. The base stationmay receive the beamformed signal from the UEin one or more receive directions. The base station/UEmay perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for each of the base station/UE. The transmit and receive directions for the base stationmay or may not be the same. The transmit and receive directions for the UEmay or may not be the same.

The EPCmay include a Mobility Management Entity (MME), other MMEs, a Serving Gateway, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC), and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway. The MMEmay be in communication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS). The MMEis the control node that processes the signaling between the UEsand the EPC. Generally, the MMEprovides bearer and connection management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through the Serving Gateway, which itself is connected to the PDN Gateway. The PDN Gatewayprovides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The PDN Gatewayand the BM-SCare connected to the IP Services. The IP Servicesmay include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a PS Streaming Service, and/or other IP services. The BM-SCmay provide functions for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SCmay serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gatewaymay be used to distribute MBMS traffic to the base stationsbelonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service, and may be responsible for session management (start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.

The core networkmay include an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), other AMFs, a Session Management Function (SMF), and a User Plane Function (UPF). The AMFmay be in communication with a Unified Data Management (UDM). The AMFis the control node that processes the signaling between the UEsand the core network. Generally, the AMFprovides QoS flow and session management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through the UPF. The UPFprovides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The UPFis connected to the IP Services. The IP Servicesmay include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a PS Streaming Service, and/or other IP services.

The base station may also be referred to as a gNB, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), a transmit reception point (TRP), or some other suitable terminology. The base stationprovides an access point to the EPCor core networkfor a UE. Examples of UEsinclude a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, a game console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor/actuator, a display, or any other similar functioning device. Some of the UEsmay be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking meter, gas pump, toaster, vehicles, heart monitor, etc.). The UEmay also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.

Referring again to, in certain aspects, the UEmay include a SUL determination componentconfigured to receive, from a base station, a first configuration associated with a first block of an uplink cancellation indication (ULCI), where the first configuration is associated with at least one of a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier or a non-supplementary uplink (NUL) carrier in a cell; determine a second configuration associated with a second block of the ULCI, where the second configuration is associated with the SUL carrier in the cell; and monitor the ULCI based on the first configuration and the second configuration.

Referring again to, in certain aspects, the base stationmay include a SUL configuration componentconfigured to transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a first configuration associated with a first block of an uplink cancellation indication (ULCI), where the first configuration is associated with at least one of a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier or a non-supplementary uplink (NUL) carrier in a cell; and configure the UE with a second configuration associated with a second block of the ULCI, where the second configuration is associated with the SUL carrier in the cell. Although the following description may be focused on 5G NR, the concepts described herein may be applicable to other similar areas, such as LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, GSM, and other wireless technologies.

is a diagramillustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G NR frame structure.is a diagramillustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G NR subframe.is a diagramillustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G NR frame structure.is a diagramillustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G NR subframe. The 5G NR frame structure may be frequency division duplexed (FDD) in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for either DL or UL, or may be time division duplexed (TDD) in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for both DL and UL. In the examples provided by, the 5G NR frame structure is assumed to be TDD, with subframe 4 being configured with slot format 28 (with mostly DL), where D is DL, U is UL, and F is flexible for use between DL/UL, and subframe 3 being configured with slot format 1 (with all UL). While subframes 3, 4 are shown with slot formats 1, 28, respectively, any particular subframe may be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slot formats 0, 1 are all DL, UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mix of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. UEs are configured with the slot format (dynamically through DL control information (DCI), or semi-statically/statically through radio resource control (RRC) signaling) through a received slot format indicator (SFI). Note that the description infra applies also to a 5G NR frame structure that is TDD.

Other wireless communication technologies may have a different frame structure and/or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes (1 ms). Each subframe may include one or more time slots. Subframes may also include mini-slots, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. Each slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the slot configuration. For slot configuration 0, each slot may include 14 symbols, and for slot configuration 1, each slot may include 7 symbols. The symbols on DL may be cyclic prefix (CP) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) (CP-OFDM) symbols. The symbols on UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) or discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (also referred to as single carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols) (for power limited scenarios; limited to a single stream transmission). The number of slots within a subframe is based on the slot configuration and the numerology. For slot configuration 0, different numerologies μ 0 to 4 allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 slots, respectively, per subframe. For slot configuration 1, different numerologies 0 to 2 allow for 2, 4, and 8 slots, respectively, per subframe. Accordingly, for slot configuration 0 and numerology μ, there are 14 symbols/slot and 2slots/subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length/duration are a function of the numerology. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2*15 kHz, where μ is the numerology 0 to 4. As such, the numerology μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and the numerology μ=4 has a subcarrier spacing of 240 kHz. The symbol length/duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing.provide an example of slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot and numerology μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67 μs. Within a set of frames, there may be one or more different bandwidth parts (BWPs) (see) that are frequency division multiplexed. Each BWP may have a particular numerology.

A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

As illustrated in, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for the UE. The RS may include demodulation RS (DM-RS) (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS), beam refinement RS (BRRS), and phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs) (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs), each CCE including six RE groups (REGs), each REG includingconsecutive REs in an OFDM symbol of an RB. A PDCCH within one BWP may be referred to as a control resource set (CORESET). A UE is configured to monitor PDCCH candidates in a PDCCH search space (e.g., common search space, UE-specific search space) during PDCCH monitoring occasions on the CORESET, where the PDCCH candidates have different DCI formats and different aggregation levels. Additional BWPs may be located at greater and/or lower frequencies across the channel bandwidth. A primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame. The PSS is used by a UEto determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity. A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of particular subframes of a frame. The SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the aforementioned DM-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH), which carries a master information block (MIB), may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS)/PBCH block (also referred to as SS block (SSB)). The MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs), and paging messages.

As illustrated in, some of the REs carry DM-RS (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may transmit DM-RS for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and DM-RS for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The PUSCH DM-RS may be transmitted in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DM-RS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether short or long PUCCHs are transmitted and depending on the particular PUCCH format used. The UE may transmit sounding reference signals (SRS). The SRS may be transmitted in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE may transmit SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by a base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.

illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) (HARQ-ACK) information (ACK/negative ACK (NACK)) feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and/or UCI.

is a block diagram of a base stationin communication with a UEin an access network. In the DL, IP packets from the EPCmay be provided to a controller/processor. The controller/processorimplements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The controller/processorprovides RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression/decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

The transmit (TX) processorand the receive (RX) processorimplement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processorhandles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimatormay be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antennavia a separate transmitterTX. Each transmitterTX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

At the UE, each receiverRX receives a signal through its respective antenna. Each receiverRX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the receive (RX) processor. The TX processorand the RX processorimplement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processormay perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE, they may be combined by the RX processorinto a single OFDM symbol stream. The RX processorthen converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by the channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base stationon the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to the controller/processor, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

The controller/processorcan be associated with a memorythat stores program codes and data. The memorymay be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processorprovides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the EPC. The controller/processoris also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DL transmission by the base station, the controller/processorprovides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression/decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by a channel estimatorfrom a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base stationmay be used by the TX processorto select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processormay be provided to different antennavia separate transmittersTX. Each transmitterTX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

The UL transmission is processed at the base stationin a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE. Each receiverRX receives a signal through its respective antenna. Each receiverRX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor.

The controller/processorcan be associated with a memorythat stores program codes and data. The memorymay be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processorprovides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE. IP packets from the controller/processormay be provided to the EPC. The controller/processoris also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

At least one of the TX processor, the RX processor, and the controller/processormay be configured to perform aspects in connection withof.

At least one of the TX processor, the RX processor, and the controller/processormay be configured to perform aspects in connection withof.

In some aspects of wireless communications, after a base station schedules resources for a UE to use in transmission or reception, e.g., of enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) data, the base station may become aware of a more urgent, higher priority transmission from another UE. For example, the other transmission may be from a latency sensitive device utilizing ultra-reliable, low latency communication (URLLC). In such circumstances, the base station may reclaim the resources previously scheduled to the first, lower priority UE for use by the second, higher priority UE. In particular, if the previously scheduled resources are for a downlink transmission, the base station may send a downlink cancellation indication (DLCI) (or downlink preemption indication) in a DLCI occasion to the first UE cancelling at least a portion of the downlink transmission to that UE. Similarly, if the previously scheduled resources are for an uplink transmission, the base station may send an uplink cancellation indication (ULCI) (or uplink preemption indication) in an ULCI occasion to the first UE to cancel at least a portion of the uplink transmission from that UE. The base station may then allocate those reclaimed resources to the higher priority, latency sensitive UE.

For example,illustrates an example of a diagramillustrating the allocation of resources for an uplink transmissionof a UE based on an uplink grantreceived from a base station. If the base station later becomes aware of a latency sensitive UE which utilizes at least a portionof the allocated resources for the uplink transmissionfor URLLC data or other higher priority data, the base station may transmit a ULCIin a ULCI occasionto the UE indicating that the portionof the previously granted resources for the uplink transmission will be punctured for use by the latency sensitive UE. As a result, the UE may cancel its uplink transmission during portionfor use by the other UE.

Additionally, a UE may be configured with two uplink carriers in the same uplink serving cell, namely a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier and a non-supplementary uplink (NUL) carrier, and the base station may semi-statically or dynamically schedule uplink transmissions on either the NUL or the SUL.illustrates an example serving cellin which a base stationmay communicate with a UEover a NUL carrierand a SUL carrier. The NUL carrierand SUL carriermay be located on different frequencies; for example, the NUL carriermay be located at a higher frequency than SUL carrier. The NUL carrierand the SUL carriermay have different ranges, as illustrated in. The base stationmay send an uplink grant to the UEto communicate on either the NUL or the SUL; the UE may not simultaneously transmit uplink communications on the NUL and the SUL. For example, in a serving cell, the UE may be dynamically or semi-statically indicated by the base station to transmit PUSCH, SRS, PUCCH, or other uplink communications on either the NUL or the SUL.

When the base station sends ULCI to the UE to cancel a previously scheduled uplink transmission, the UE may determine whether to apply the ULCI to cancel uplink transmissions on NUL or SUL. For example, the base station may configure the UE to monitor separate blocks or fields in ULCI, where each block corresponds to either the SUL carrier and/or NUL carrier of a given cell where the uplink transmission to be punctured is carried. Also, ULCI may comprise multiple blocks. The UE may be configured in the DCI with the length of ULCI and may be configured to monitor a block corresponding to the SUL carrier, a block corresponding to the NUL carrier, or a block corresponding together to the SUL and NUL carriers. The UE may apply ULCI (e.g., cancel at least a portion of the uplink transmission) on the corresponding carrier (e.g., SUL or NUL) indicated in each configured block.

illustrates an example frame structureof DCI comprising ULCI. The ULCI comprises multiple blocksthat may be configured for a particular cell. Each blockmay correspond to at least one bit associated with a time domain resource granularity (e.g., a number of symbols), where ‘0’ may indicate not to cancel an uplink transmission and ‘1’ may indicate to cancel an uplink transmission (e.g., apply the ULCI), or vice-versa. The blocksmay be configured to indicate which carrier (SUL or NUL) and resources/symbols the portion of the uplink transmission are to be punctured or canceled. In one example as shown in, the base station may configure UE with at least one block of the ULCI. In, the UE may be configured to receive ULCI in block twoand block sixof the ULCIstructure, where block twomay be configured to correspond to NUL and block sixmay be configured to correspond to SUL (or vice-versa).merely illustrates a single example; any block of ULCImay be configured (e.g., with 0's or 1's), and any of the blocks may be configured to correspond to a NUL carrier or a SUL carrier of a given cell. For example, the UE may apply ULCI to either the NUL carrier or SUL carrier based on which of blocks,the ULCI instruction to cancel the transmission was received. In another example, the UE may apply ULCI received in a single block to both the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier.

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May 12, 2026

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Cite as: Patentable. “Uplink cancellation indication for supplementary uplink carriers” (US-12628146-B2). https://patentable.app/patents/US-12628146-B2

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Uplink cancellation indication for supplementary uplink carriers | Patentable